Bruno Latour

Presentation

Bruno Latour, born in 1947 in Beaune, Burgundy, was trained as a philosopher before studying anthropology in Côte d’Ivoire. His first book, Laboratory Life (1979), translated into six languages, applies ethnographic methods to describe the daily functioning of a Californian laboratory. Bruno Latour then worked on relations between Pasteur’s revolution and nineteenth century French society (Microbes : guerre et paix (1984), translated into four languages). Increasingly interested in the multiple connections between sociology, history and the economy of techniques, he published a synthesis volume, Science in action, in 1987 (translated into nine languages) and many articles on technical innovation. A case study on an automatic underground, Aramis or the Love of Technology (1992) (Roberval Prize, translated into two languages) enabled him to sum up several years of research on the dynamics of innovations and the philosophy of the techniques involved. His interest in management and organization of research, that has led him to undertake many studies in industry, corresponds to his philosophical works such as We have never been modern: symmetrical anthropological essay (1991) (translated into sixteen languages) and scientific cultural work like Small lessons in the Sociology of Science (1996) (translated into four languages).

Bruno Latour has published Paris : ville invisible (1998), a photographic inquiry into social theory, and Politics of Nature : How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy (1999) (translated into three languages), a synthesis of his work on the philosophy of the environment. He recently published an ethnographic study of the Conseil d’Etat, La fabrique du droit : une ethnographie du Conseil d’Etat (2002). Pandora’s Hope (1999) (translated into four languages) reviews the impact of science studies on the philosophy of science. Most of his English books are available from Harvard University Press and most of his French books from Editions La Découverte.